Audi A2 goes over 370 miles on one battery charge.

My guess is that it's a new battery chemistry which is very expensive today. It won't be in a consumer car in 2011 or 2012. But unless it is made mostly of gold or platinum or uranium, they've already started working out ways of fabricating it more cheaply. My prediction is that this chemistry (and comparable or greater range) will be in an EV within a decade. Unless an even better chemistry leap-frogs this one.

 

The pack is 115kwh, there was plenty of charge left after the drive. They claim the battery weighs just 300kg.

My guess is it will take around 5 years to commercialize and put in large scale production. They need to make sure the chemistry ages well and is safe to charge quickly. The battery company is DBM. DBM's management says the technology is ready now though;-) They claim fast recharge of 6 minutes is possible.

http://bx.businessweek.com/electric-car/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsufiy.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F10%2Flithium-metal-polymer-battery-from-dbm.html

 

That's good news, though a six-minute recharge would take some serious infrastructure and VERY heavy-duty chargers.

With, say, a 400-mile range, I'd be happy with a 30-minute recharge. Long before 400 miles of driving, I'd NEED a half-hour break. And with people taking a half-hour break, there are sure to be rest facilities and food available. But for me, even 370 miles would get me to the places I drive to in Canada, and then the car is parked for a week or two and would have plenty of time for a slow charge.

 

First I am only repeating statements from dbm and der spiegel. I do not know if these things are true or exaggerated. But if they are true it is very good news for those of us wanting BEV and PHEVs.

A 100 kwh battery will still be very expensive. Most BEVs do not need this weight or cost. If the 6 minute charge time is correct, a 100 mile range car could charge in less than 2 minutes. This gets in the range of possibilities of having charging stations similar to gas stations. Remember the longer it takes to charge the more charging spots are needed for a given throughput of cars. By allowing faster charging the stations can decide and build out the infrastructure. If claims are true a 150 mile range would require a 300lb battery pack and cost around $10,000 in the near future.

 

And since I only want a 50 mile range, I extrapolate to 100 pounds pack weight and $3000 -- minus ICE related weights and costs.

One can only hope.

 

That is probably 80 Km/Hr as the test run was done at 55MPH. What is equally interesting is thier A1 model that they are working on, I think that they are using an ICE to charge the HV Batteries what is interesting is the engine is 250cc. They also have some other stuff wrapped into this package that makes it very light and room efficient. Look up Audi A1.:cheer2:

 

According to the article on Page 6 of the current (November, 2010) issue of Current EVents (the newsletter of the Electric Auto Association) the Audi drove 600 km (372.8 miles) at an average speed of 130 km/hr, which is 80 mph.

This is consistent with what I read somewhere (can't remember where) that the recommended speed is 80 mph, not km/hr.

Where I live I could not legally drive it that fast.

This is a new distance record, but not so much as to stretch credulity. It is a significant but credible improvement in battery technology, perhaps combined with packing in as many as would fit. It probably cost them a lot to build this car, but that's always the case with a demonstration of new technology. If the battery life turns out good, they'll develop ways to make the batteries more cheaply.

 

I agree with all aspects of your post. The Electric Vehicle Assoc. had to have gotten it wrong. The figure is illogical. In Germany there were laws posted, saying, if you are involved in a accident AND you were proved to be going over 120KM/Hr then you were automatically liable. I am assuming that law is still in effect. I don't think the EVA would promote 130 KM/Hr and hope to improve thier image. Now 80KM / Hr and 50 MPH makes perfect sense, ( in the real world ). I believe that the original story was written up by " Der Spiegel " Again edit: The first post mathamatics also do not work out, at 130Km/Hr it should only take < 5hours to go the distance quoted, not seven! 372 miles / 80 mph = 4.65 hours.

 

You haven't heard of the autobahn then. 80 mph on the autobahn is SLOW! Further, the EAA is not "promoting" 80 mph. It is reporting on an experimental car developed and tested by a German company. A company that builds fast cars. This car was going SLOW by German standards.

The existence of a law making you liable for an accident if you were going that fast, only means that if you drive fast, you better drive carefully. The law does not prohibit driving fast. It only assigns liability in the event of an accident. And in Germany, if there's an image problem, it's "Electric cars go so slow??? What if I want to drive 175 km/hr???" (A fairly normal speed there.)

 

Okay. I've found a couple other sites that give the speed at 55 mph. There appears to be inconsistency in the reporting.